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Character of the Season
Frail in body but dangerously quick of mind, Nikandr is the sort of character who proves that curiosity can be just as perilous as any weapon. A necromancer, inventor, and problem-solver with more ambition than self-preservation, Niki approaches the world like a puzzle box begging to be opened, even when what’s inside has teeth. Blunt, dry-witted, fiercely independent, and carrying a history best left partially buried, he has a knack for making even failure feel fascinating. Whether he’s raising the dead, moving across Caido to King's End, or experiencing a hangover for the first time, Nikandr brings a wonderfully strange spark to Caido, and we can’t wait to see what trouble his brilliant mind wanders into next.
Congratulations, Niki!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
The underground had altered and changed since the last time she’d wandered around these depths – much for the better, clearly, given the landscape around them. No longer was there a seemingly labyrinthine maze and haze of ROUs and stone, but mottled portions of fortune tellers, bars, gambling parlors, and brothels. Even the VlamVoed remained standing – and if her eyes flickered with a very brief snippet of nostalgia, then so be it.
She wasn’t really interested in any of those anyway. She’d meandered in for the boutiques and the more intriguing shops – snagging at presents throughout the familiar Torchline markets wasn’t something she was opposed to, but it didn’t present any uniqueness. Her gilded gaze roamed over portions, ushering Fangorn and Sila alike along before they ended up too immersed in a crowd.
“How about here?” She offered towards her viney pumpkin and bronze dragon, stepping within a store filled with all sorts of odds and ends of collections. Making sure to grab the companions and place them either in her arms or upon her shoulder, she began to browse the random art, signs, and crocheted goods, searching for any peculiar things her uncle and friends would appreciate.
Rhiannon wasn’t really much of a shopper; she had very few friends, after all, or at least very few who she would deign to buy a gift for. Today, she wandered the Inner Quarter in search for goods for her parents. But what did one get for soldiers that they didn’t already have? Both had their preferred weapons - her mother a whip, and her father a sword - and there was little she could do to contribute to their arsenal that didn’t already exist.
She’d chosen the Hollowed Grounds for the simple reason that it wasn’t Halo, and at least if she shopped here, she had a moderate chance of being able to surprise her parents with something new and exciting. But since neither were particularly sentimental, the shop that Rhiannon currently browsed - full of art and signs and crocheted goods - seemed like it was another dead end.
As Rhi turned to leave, a bell tinkled over the door, and she looked around to find a familiar face entering. ”Melita, hey,” she said, sliding past a display of cheap jewelry and offering a friendly smile to the demigod. ”How’s it going?”
Melita was in sharp perusal around trinkets and , considering some kitchen utensils, pots, and pans oddly shaped in the form of black dragons, when she heard another voice calling out. Her head whipped upward, gaze swarming around, until she pinpointed Rhiannon amidst the hoards of trinkets and displays. “Oh, hey,” she responded lightly. She didn’t know the other woman very well; though she’d been willing to help clean up the gross ass void shit in the Feverlands.
“Eh, looking for gifts,” she offered instead, granting a shrug of her shoulders. “I think my uncle would like these,” and she pointed to said draconic handles and things; figuring his level of confidence and arrogance would be well suited to adorning his house in his own likeness. “You?”
Rhiannon might not have known Melita well, but call it a sixth sense - she felt like the woman would be worth getting to know. She’d been impressed with Melita’s leadership and abilities in the Feverlands, and Rhiannon was all about collecting powerful allies.
”Oh, those are cool,” she said of the draconian trinkets. There wasn’t much in here that appealed to her personally, but she could at least acknowledge that the gifts Melita was considering were pretty in their way. ”I’m shopping for my parents.” She made a face. ”I always hate getting them gifts. They’re not very… sentimental people, so they’re hard to buy for.”
Melita’s “leadership” probably left a lot to be desired – often simply gathering those who liked to unfurl chaos and bedlam as much as she did. Those circumstances, of course, would land them in some hot water not so far into the future.
But for now, shopping.
Having no parents to procure for, and her uncle being the closest blood relative, Melita could only relate so much. Her mother would’ve been easy though – something with healing provisions or cozy, comfortable notions. Her father, who’d abandoned them before they could even walk, could eat shit.
“Oh, yeah, I get that,” she hastened. “Is there something they like?”
Rhiannon looked around the shelves of trinkets, picking up a little glass figurine of an encantado jumping from the crest of a wave and admiring it. There really was a little bit of everything here. Not that something so delicate would fare well in her home - it would simply sit and collect dust. Which, she supposed, was what it was arguably meant to do.
Putting the figurine back in its spot, Rhi shrugged. ”We’re all soldiers, so we have a lot of weapons. I was thinking about a weapons rack.” But that wasn’t something she was going to find in this particular shop, unless there was a surprise waiting for her somewhere. ”Do you know any place that might have something?”
A weapons rack was something she could get behind – though she was uncertain if something like that would be around in this shop. Grabbing hold of the gifts she intended for her uncle, her eyes flickered around. “Let me go pay for these and I’ll ask.”
Bouncing over to the merchant and offering said coin, she extended the inquiry. She didn’t know the Hollowed Grounds scene well enough anymore to be of much use, after all, her experiences had been in ruins, undergrounds, and feuds with the Greatwood.
But the store owner seemed to know of a place, and before long, Melita waved Rhiannon over at the door, and they were off down the pathways towards a much more weapons inclined area. “Oooh, look at all of these,” as she burst in, already beelining for some fancy looking maces.
Rhiannon waited while Melita made her payment and her inquiries, and then followed the redhead down the street to a section of shops that looked much more weapons-inclined. Melita’s eye was drawn to some maces; Rhiannon admired a collection of various swords and daggers, arranged by size and all looking sharper than anything Rhi had at home. She was practically drooling at one particular rapier, which looked like it might be just the right length and weight for Rhiannon’s frame.
But she wasn’t here for herself; she was here for her parents. She turned to a shopkeeper nearby and inquired as to their selection of weapons racks, and once the shopkeeper had shown them where to look, Rhi stood in front of the selection, weighing the pros and cons of each. ”I didn’t really think this through,” she admitted to Melita. ”How am I supposed to get one home?”
Melita, drawn to all sharp, serrated objects, had to eventually be peeled away from a variety of sections. It would be fortunate if she didn’t leave the shop with an additional knife, dagger, or some other blunt object, but given Rhiannon’s current dilemma, the Honeybee slid over, admiring the weapon racks. Offering a low whistle of approval, she tilted her head to listen to the admission.
The tribulation made her shrug her shoulders, as if she didn’t see it as an issue. “Could you ask them to deliver it?” Certainly there were merchant vehicles that could make it to skyports, place them on those ships, and then continue onward towards Halo – landing the large package precariously at Rhiannon’s door.
Rhiannon continued to eye the racks even as she considered her options. There was one by the door that looked promising, with a variety of options to suit the various weapons in the Cassidy household, as well as sections that could be used to distribute the weaponry by person. Given that Rhi still lived at home, and all three of the people in the house were Shields, such a feature might be useful. It helped, too, that the rack was made of dark, polished wood that would compliment their decor.
”I could ask,” she agreed, a lightbulb flicking on in her mind. She happened to be friends with a courier, after all, so even if the shop couldn’t deliver on their own, if they could just hold it for a while… ”Or if they could hold it until I got delivery arranged.” With that in mind, she made her way over to the shopkeeper to ask her questions. Once she’d determined that they could indeed deliver and that the price was fair, she paid, left her information, and returned to Melita. ”So, anything else you’re looking for today?”
Melita surveyed the other things nearby, nodding and waiting for Rhiannon to make a business or purchasing decision. She rocked back and forth on her heels for a time, before inspecting other portions, wondering if eventually she’d need something much the same back at her home…with all her various weaponry assortments.
Rhiannon returned though, and she glanced back at the soldier’s wake. “Nah, I’m all set. Can’t spoil him too much.” Figuring the hybrid would either continue her own shopping potentials or depart, she waved, promising training or something in the near distant future – before all shit hit the fan, of course.
